122 THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
THE HABITS OF THE LARVA AND PUPA. 
During its long life beneath the soil, in its small moist oval cell, 
which at first is not larger than a ‘“‘birdshot,” but is gradually enlarged 
to accommodate the slowly-increasing size of the inmate, little oppor- 
tunity is afforded for much variation in mode of existence and habits. 
The interesting features to be considered are the feeding and burrow- 
ing habits, which together comprise the principal activities of its sub- 
terranean existence. 
THE FOOD OF THE LARVA AND PUPA. 
The food taken by this insect beneath the soil is necessarily fluid, as 
is also the case with the perfect insect, as well as with all other insects 
of the order Hemiptera. That the Cicada should obtain its nourish- 
ment in a manner different from the other members of its order would 
not be anticipated, but, nevertheless, a good deal of difference of 
opinion has been expressed as to the nature of the food of this insect 
in its subterranean life, as also its method of feeding. Both Professor 
Potter and Doctor Smith were of the opinion that the insect in its 
underground life obtained its nourishment from the surface moisture 
of the roots of plants through capillary hairs at the tip of the pro- 
boscis—a curious misapprehension, as the hairs mentioned arise from 
the sheaths, and have no connection with the true piercing and sucking 
setz. Professor Potter expresses himself on this subject as follows: 
In all places they are found attached to the tender fibrils of plants. When they 
are disturbed or driven from them they seek for others the moment they are at liberty. 
This is their only aliment, not the substance of the roots of the plants, which they can 
not divide and comminute without teeth or jaws to use them, but the mere aerial 
exhalation from their surface. This well-established fact would seem to account for 
the slowness of their growth, and furnishes a reason for so long a subterraneous residence. 
This absurd view of the method of nourishment of the larva and 
pupa is on a par also with the belief of the same authors, reviving the 
statement of Aristotle, that the adult insect subsists on “the dewy 
exhalation of vegetable barks,” which was supposed to be swept up by 
a brush of hairs on the tip of the proboscis. Doctor Smith claims a 
basis for this theory of the feeding habits in perscnal observation, and 
it has been supposed by others to be supported by the well-known 
fact that the Cicada will occasionally issue from the ground that has 
been practically cleared of timber and under cultivation for a number 
of years, and that other species are known to issue from the prairies. 
These facts lose much of their significance when it is remembered that 
any vegetation, even annual, as of farm crops, would supply ample 
root growth for the Cicada larva during the growing period of summer, 
and in the colder months they undoubtedly lie dormant in their earthen 
cells. 
